US-manufactured Chick System 5 work-holding equipment, supplied in the UK through sole agent 1st Machine Tool Accessories, is helping to increase productivity and efficiency in the machine shop of Axminster Tools & Machinery, located in Devon. The company is an online and high street retailer of tools and machinery that it imports from global suppliers. However, Axminster chooses to manufacture some machine accessories, including the Clubman SK80 woodturning chuck, in-house to ensure quality.

Historically, standard wind-up vices were used to fixture components for machining on CNC mills and machining centres, but as production levels rose they became too inefficient. Then, a new job came along that required particularly accurate clamping of multiple small parts, namely steel jaws for chucks.
To provide a solution, 1st MTA proposed its Chick Qwik-Lok system, which significantly reduces set-up times as the jaws secure components quickly and to high repeatability for milling and drilling. One large part can be clamped between two jaws, but to allow more parts to be loaded at a time, a pair of components, or multiples, are held in two stations. Aluminium jaws machined with the profile of the parts to be held ensure they are retained firmly during machining.
Once Axminster Tools & Machinery adopted this procedure, clamping several steel mounting jaws in each Qwik-Lok station, productivity was increased. The machine operator is able to change over up to six Qwik-Loks on a VMC table in half an hour, four times faster than when previously using the bespoke steel fixture plate. Moreover, the latter had the drawback of potentially causing damage to the cutter in the event of a programming error, whereas this is not the case with aluminium jaws.
For further information www.1mta.com

With the news that the ‘Made In the Midlands’ and ‘Made in Yorkshire’ exhibitions will no longer go ahead due to COVID-19, the Made in Group has introduced Backing Britain Live 2020 – an immersive, virtual experience.

Jason Pitt, CEO of the Made in Group, says: “These exhibitions are significant events to which many members and visitors look forward but, like many aspects of our current lives, we’ve had to make adjustments. Although I predict full-scale lockdown will not continue into the summer, government leads us to believe that social distancing measures will remain for months to come. Large-scale gatherings will remain unsafe until the population has some immunity or the virus is eradicated. Despite this, I’m pleased to say that we’ve found an alternative way of delivering our expos safely and innovatively.”
On 17 August 2020, the Made in Group will launch a digital exhibition. Called Backing Britain Live 2020, the event will be an immersive experience between the digital and physical.
“We’re an innovative organisation when it comes to technology; we do more than many realise,” says Pitt. “As a business, we’ve developed a digital platform that allows members to create their own social media microsite, upload news and attend virtual webinars, and will soon include virtual mastermind groups, Q&A sessions and panel discussions.”
The event will be hosted at backingbritain.com, where the entire exhibition hall will have virtual access to booths, interactive seminars and networking areas. According to the Made in Group, the process will be very user friendly and easy to navigate. Not only will visitors have a unique experience online, but they will receive physical goodie bags delivered to their door that are set to include: the 100-page Backing Britain 2020 book, consisting of positive manufacturing news and information about exhibitors; a large printed poster of the exhibition hall; a Backing Britain lanyard; and social posters.
For further information www.backingbritain.com

A provider of industrial innovation technology is supporting the UK’s call for more ventilators through the power of augmented reality (AR).

PTC has been announced as one of the partners in the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium led by High Value Manufacturing Catapult CEO Dick Elsy and a host of the engineering businesses, including Ford Motor Co, GKN Aerospace, McLaren, Airbus, Meggitt and Siemens UK.
The consortium has used PTC’s Vuforia Expert Capture AR technology and Microsoft’s HoloLens to capture the crucial assembly steps and processes involved in building RMVS (rapidly manufactured ventilator systems). This data will be uploaded and edited in PTC’s Vuforia Editor technology, which runs on Microsoft Azure, to create a virtual assembly guide. The guide is then relayed, through wearable equipment or smart devices such as a phone or tablet, to the factories of consortium partners that traditionally do not make ventilators.
For further information www.ptc.com

Make UK has expanded its online training and learning services for companies to ensure that manufacturers are able to pivot their business and function through the COVID-19 crisis.

As well as operating a coronavirus hub, which gives companies access to the official government advice and support schemes, since the start of the crisis Make UK has transferred all of its HR and legal, health and safety, and apprentice training online. The organisation is also continuing its introduction of new services to help companies, such as remote cyber security protection for home workers.
For further information www.makeuk.org

A Coventry-based aerospace supplier that has pivoted to the supply of critical parts for ventilators is celebrating after it received the Queen’s Award for International Trade. Arrowsmith Engineering, which employs 76 people, secured the accolade after it recorded a 996% increase in export activity over the past three years, supplying precision components to global manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce, GKN, ITP and Siemens.

The company’s parts are used in aerospace engines, landing gear and airframes, with recent wins seeing sales rise to £7.6m and investment in the latest CNC robotics paving the way for 10% growth in 2020. Arrowsmith Engineering, which is part of the Aero Services Global Group, has recently been lending its manufacturing expertise to support the frontline fight against COVID-19, after being invited by Rolls-Royce Control Systems and Rolls-Royce in Derby to join their ventilator supply chains.
For further information www.arrowsmitheng.co.uk